Political Science B.A. Outcomes
The Mission of the Department of Political Science includes teaching, research, and service on all aspects of politics and political science. The Department strives to provide high quality teaching to prepare future political scientists and analysts and to prepare students for lives of active citizenship in an increasingly interconnected and culturally diverse world. To these ends the Department offers both a major and a minor in Political Science and contributes to the university’s programs in liberal education and international studies. The Department also strives to produce first-rate pure and applied research generating new knowledge on, and better understandings of, all aspects of politics and political science and, where appropriate, puts its expertise at the service of the University and the community at large.
Departmental Learning Outcomes
The Political Science Department has identified the following ten learning outcomes for students in its undergraduate program. These include: cognitive outcomes –what we expect out students to know; behavioral outcomes –what we expect our students to be able to do; and affective outcomes –what we expect our students to value, all as political science graduates.
Students completing a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science will be able to demonstrate the following knowledge:
Knowledge of the main fields in political science. Graduates will be able to identify the main fields in political science (including American politics, comparative politics, international relations and political theory), the conventions they use in organizing and analyzing information and in making and assessing arguments, and the way in which they contribute to and are enriched by scholarship in other fields and disciplines. UMD Goal 1.
Knowledge of main concepts, theories, positions and problems in the study and practice of politics, and the key figures associated with them. Graduates will be familiar with a variety of analytical frameworks used in the study of politics, with the types of problems, puzzles and questions at stake in the study and practice of politics, and with the (often competing) values at stake in political activity. Graduates also will be able to identify, where appropriate, the people who made substantial contributions to the study and/or practice of politics. UMD Goals 1 and 3.
Knowledge of the institutions, structures and processes of politics and government at local, national, regional, international and global levels. Graduates will be able to understand the organizations involved, planning and collaboration required, process and limitations of execution, and the purposes for and trends regarding participation in political activity at all levels of political life today and in the past. UMD Goals 1, 4 and 5.
Students completing a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science will be able to demonstrate the following skills:
Skill in arguing within disciplinary conventions about the concepts, theories, positions and problems at stake in the study and practice of politics, in both written and oral forms. Graduates will be able to demonstrate skill in writing and speaking about political ideas, issues, and problems by developing, researching and defending an argument within disciplinary conventions of analysis, with effective and critical use of sources and/or evidence, with attention to reasonable counterarguments, and through clear, graceful and logically organized prose. UMD Goals 1, 2, 3 and 6.
Skill in identifying political science research problems, questions or puzzles and applying appropriate methods and techniques for their investigation. Graduates will be able to demonstrate skill in identifying an original research agenda within political science and applying appropriate methods and techniques for their investigation including, but not restricted to, the creation and interpretation of data sets, formal reasoning, the construction of narratives, and the deconstruction of language and symbols. UMD Goals 1, 3 and 6.
Students completing a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science will be able to demonstrate the following values:
Solidarist claims concerning our common humanity and pluralist claims concerning the diversity of our understandings of ourselves, our place in the world and how both might be are equally important. Graduates will be able to demonstrate an appreciation of this claim as a value.UMD Goals 3, 5 and 6.
Good research and valid reasoning are required to produce good policy-making. Graduates will be able to appreciate the difficulty of finding and/or generating reliable data in social scientific settings, and the necessity of perfecting methods of data generation and analysis in order to design and track public policy. UMD Goals 5 and 6.
Being open to diverse views and countervailing evidence is the best way of realizing and sustaining truth and justice. Graduates will be able to appreciate how an open and free exchange of ideas enhances public debate and scholarly reflections about political life and political activity. UMD Goals 4, 5 and 6.
The study and practice of politics should be considered in light of its historical context and legacy, but not exclusively so. Graduates will be able to appreciate how knowledge of the history of political institutions, movements, policies, theories and positions can both inform and constrain approaches to contemporary political life in scholarly work and in their lives as informed, responsible citizens. UMD Goals 4 and 5.
The processes and outcomes of politics are improved to the extent that citizens accept the preceding values and are actively engaged in promoting them. Graduates will be able to demonstrate an appreciation of this claim as a value. UMD Goals 4, 5 and 6.